Recent News

By Region: North America

Guinea worm is poised to become the second human disease to be eradicated

(The Washington Post) Guinea worm disease is reaching the end of its days. The parasitic infection, which has sickened millions, mostly in Asia and Africa, is on the verge of being done in not by sophisticated medicine but by aggressive public health efforts in some of the poorest and most remote parts of the world. Read More »

August 29, 2012
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, International, and Public Health
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Ebola Phone Theft: Man Steals From Quarantined Uganda Hospital Patient, Contracts Virus

(Huffington Post) Don’t do the crime if you can’t contract the virus. A man stole a cell phone from an isolation ward in Uganda two weeks ago, but realized he had more than the police to worry about when he began showing symptoms of Ebola, the Daily Monitor reports. The unidentified, 40-year-old thief took a Read More »

August 28, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, North America, Agents & Toxins, and Public Health
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In war with ‘superbugs,’ Cedars-Sinai researchers see new weapon: Immune-boosting vitamin

(EurekAlert) Cedars-Sinai researchers have found that a common vitamin may have the potential to provide a powerful weapon to fight certain “superbugs,” antibiotic-resistant staph infections that health experts see as a threat to public health. The research, published in the September 2012 edition of The Journal of Clinical Investigation, found that high doses of the Read More »

August 28, 2012
| Filed under North America, Public Health, and Research
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How Does The Flu Virus Disrupt Our Natural Defense System?

(Medical News Today) According to a study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, researchers at Northwestern University have identified one of the ways the influenza virus disarms our natural defense system. The virus decreases the production of key immune system-regulating proteins in human cells that help attack the invader. In order to do this, Read More »

August 28, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, and Public Health
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Feedlot biosecurity – good but not perfect

(Bovine Veterinarian) The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) conducted the Feedlot 2011 study, an in-depth look at large and small feedlots. One segment of the study focused on biosecurity practices of feedlots that are designed to minimize the risk of disease introduction and spread on an operation. One concern with Read More »